James Ross Island

to get instant updates about 'James Ross Island' on your MyPage. Meet other similar minded people. Its Free!

X

All Updates

Description:

James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to , it is irregularly shaped and extends in a north-south direction. It was charted in October 1903 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskiöld. He named it for Sir James Clark Ross, leader of a British expedition to this area in 1842, who discovered and roughly charted a number of points along the eastern side of the island. The form James Ross Island is used to avoid confusion with the more widely known Ross Island in McMurdo Sound.

It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to South America than any other part of that continent.

The island was connected to the Antarctic mainland by an ice shelf until 1995, when the ice shelf collapsed, making the Prince Gustav Channel passable for the first time.Rubin, Jeff (2008). Antarctica, p. 276. Lonely Planet.